The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project will show you how to change your life, without actually changing your life, thanks to the findings of modern science, ancient history and popular culture about happiness, which the author tested for a year and now shares with you.

The very first area of her life Gretchen looked at was her health, her energy, as she calls it. Why? Because if you’re sick in bed, there’s no way in hell you’ll be happy.

Among more typical things like getting enough sleep, exercise and good food, Gretchen also found that clutter really weighed on her. Not only does it take up to 50% more time to manage your household if it’s very cluttered, all of the unused junk also takes up mental energy, because every item has its spot somewhere inside your brain.

I can vouch for this – having sold all of my video games and 75% of my old clothes . When you declutter your house, you’ll notice a strong relief of stress inside your head too, which will help you take the next step – sweeping the floor on a mental level.

Digital to-do list tools and note taking software are great, but they have a huge disadvantage: no storage limit. If you’ve ever filled up an Evernote file or Trello board with so many tasks that you couldn’t possibly finish them, you know what I’m talking about.

The stress this creates comes from the Zeigarnik effect, which makes your brain nag you about any unfinished task, even if it was started years ago. Getting rid of notes about old tasks she’d never finish or finally checking off small items like making a backup of her computer helped Gretchen get rid of a lot of mental clutter with little effort, thus boosting her happiness.

It was really hard to fit these into one fitting headline, so here go two of Gretchen’s principles for happier relationships: You can’t change your partner; you can only change yourself. What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. Our brains remember negative events a lot faster and deeper than positive ones, so in any relationship, it takes about five positive actions to correct one negative one. Therefore, doing less negative ones for example by reducing fighting and quitting the bickering is a great way to make your relationships happier. Gretchen noticed she was nagging her husband a lot and complaining, but once she reduced that, she herself became happier – even though her husband hadn’t changed at all. When you focus on what you can control, you correct what’s really the root of the problem: your own actions and attitudes. Similarly, Gretchen started…